Giro d’Italia: Simon Yates set to seal overall victory on stage 21 in Rome – live
Key events
101km to go: “Have King Kelly and co eased their criticism of Isaac del Toro today?,” emails Gary Naylor. “They were very harsh yesterday on a 21-year-old kid riding in pink for days on his first tour, alone on the road against Yates, WvA and Carapaz, getting bad instructions in his ear.
“I’ll be very happy when he wins a grand tour and smiles down the camera at them.”
Kelly hasn’t been on the mic yet today, I don’t think. But the focus has been on Yates’s performance rather than any criticism of Del Toro. As below, Del Toro is putting a brave face on it – or as you say, perhaps he’s just genuinely delighted to be finishing second, rather than wracked with angst over losing the leader’s jersey on the penultimate stage.
103km to go: On the TNT Sports Giro motorbike, Adam Blythe has just eaten an ice cream, now he’s eating some crisps, and he’s got a freshly made sandwich to come. He says the sandwich is dated today. “In England that would be a meal deal with four-week old tuna,” he remarks. Which is a fair point.
I seem to remember seeing Blythe eating a burger while riding around the velodrome at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, although when I “reminded” him of this on social media several years ago, he claimed to have no memory of the incident.
105km to go: By the way, the peloton has now turned back towards Rome, having enjoyed a quick promenade by the sea at Ostia.
108km to go: Dries de Bondt (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) attacks, looking to mop up the intermediate sprint points. Alessandro Tonelli (Team Polti VisitMalta) goes with him. The winner will get 12 points … and I think De Bondt took it. Will confirm.
110km to go: Isaac del Toro was asked a loaded question before today’s stage start. How did he sleep last night?
“Really good man. The last two, three days I slept really well.”
Any regrets? Del Toro says something about not knowing what will happen in the future, so he seems to be saying no, no regrets, and then:
“Yes, I can imagine different scenarios, when I can do it better … But honestly, I can say it, but I prefer don’t say it, and maybe next race I will show it.
“It was a good day [Stage 20] , not the best day, but it can be worse, I am super proud of my performance these two weeks. I showed to everyone I can do it. And more important I showed myself I can do it … It was incredible to show the performance I can do.
“If I had told you I would finish second at the Giro, you would have laughed. It’s incredible now.”
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123km to go: I seem to remember that Simon Yates – or was it Adam, or was it both of them – being famous for giving extremely stock interview answers to reporters during grand tours.
“We’ll just take it day by day,” is generally the mantra.
And why not? Keep it simple.
The peloton is on an extremely long, straight road heading for the coast, with dense woodland on their left-hand side.
127km to go: Did Adam Yates speak to his brother Simon on the phone last night? “Just messaged him. Super Giro for him, super happy for him.”
What next for Adam Yates, asks Blythe. The Tour de France?
“Yeah, I’m going to the Tour. Try and recover now and work for the boss, [Tadej] Pogacar. I think he’s in Sierra [Nevada] now working hard. And … yeah.”
Is Simon Yates heading for the Tour too, in support of Jonas Vingegaard?
“Mate, if I was him, I’d be retiring now. He’s just won the Giro!”
127km to go: The peloton is leaving the city. They are rolling down a long, straight tree-lined avenue (must have something to do with the Romans), and making a beeline for the coast. The sky is uniformly blue.
Blythe grabs a word quick word for TNT Sports with race leader Simon Yates from the motorbike. Blythe heard a rumour that Yates’s partner was flying to Italy during yesterday’s stage?
“Funnily enough she missed her flight,” a smiling Simon Yates explains. “She was too busy watching the race, so she completely missed it. But it worked out all right.”
The official Giro blog actually says Yates is the “12th different winner in the last 11 editions” which is, er, not actually mathematically possible. But I think I catch their drift.
132km to go: Good stattage from the official live blog: Simon Yates is the 12th different Giro d’Italia winner in 12 editions of the race.
“Nairo Quintana (2014), Alberto Contador (2015), Vincenzo Nibali (2016), Tom Dumoulin (2017), Chris Froome (2018), Richard Carapaz (2019), Tao Geoghegan-Hart (2020), Egan Bernal (2021), Jai Hindley (2022), Primoc Roglic (2023), and Tadej Pogacar (2024).”
And now Yates, S.
134km to go: Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek, resplendent in his maglia ciclamino get-up, has clipped off the front, along with Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-PremierTech) and two other Danish riders. Looks like it’s just a bit of fun.
137km to go: “The riders are not this relaxed on their recovery rides,” Adam Blythe says of the atmosphere in the peloton. “Not even close.”
Mauro Vegni, the race director for the past 10 years, is retiring today. He’s been at RCS Sports for 30 years, Rob Hatch tells us on commentary.
I used to work in pro cycling and I once bumped into Vegni at Zurich airport. I said hello, he pretty clearly had no idea who I was, but was very civil. True story!
Kilometre 0
Here we go, then. Simon Yates has 143km to ride to glory with his Visma–Lease A Bike colleagues.
It’s 30C in Rome. It’ll be hotter on the road. The peloton has just rolled across the border, leaving Vatican City and back into the Italian capital. There are magnificent helicopter shots of the city as the riders pootle towards Kilometre 0 and the official race start. Simon Yates and his teammates will bust out the Prosecco at some point. Or perhaps a nice bottle of Franciacorta.
“Yates rode 59min 23sec for the climb,” emails John of yesterday’s decisive attack on the Colle delle Finestre. “That is a new record. Froome in 2018 rode 65 mins. Yates was pushing 6.2 watts per kilo and Froome just 5.4.
“I’m sure that both Carapaz and Del Toro were caught ought by the ferocious and continued attack by Yates. Yes, they were looking at each other, but they were also blown away by Bury Boy’s surge.”
Peloton stops for audience with Pope Leo
Not something you see every day. The neutralised roll-out has begun in Vatican City, but now the riders have stopped to meet the Pope. Simon Yates and I think the other riders in the podium positions get to shake hands with the American.
“God bless all of you on this last part of the Giro,” Pope Leo says. “Congratulations to all of you. You are always welcome here in the Vatican, welcomed by the church, which represents God’s love for all people. Congratulations, tanti auguri a tutti.”
The official technical information about today’s stage, on the Giro website, is as follows:
“The final stage is split into two parts. The first runs from Rome to the coast and Ostia, then returns to the start zone. Riders then enter the final circuit: Eight laps of a 9.5 km course entirely within central Rome, using wide city roads. The profile alternates short undulations with long straights and occasionally technical corners. The surface is mostly asphalt, with short cobbled sections (sanpietrini).
“Final kilometres: Only slight changes of direction. The final straight is 350m on eight-metre-wide asphalt. Midway through the last kilometre, the road pitches up at 5%.”
Stage 21 is 143km long. It includes eight laps of a 9.5km circuit in the city to finish. The peloton started out from Vatican City, they will head out to the coast, at Ostia, then loop back to the big smoke for the street circuit and final sprint. Two intermediate sprints, at Fontana Dello Zodiaco (35.2km) and “Roma” at 95.6km.
Orla Chennaoui tells us it’s the first time since 25 May 2018 that Simon Yates has worn the maglia rosa.
Meanwhile, the riders are rolling out in the neutralised zone. I suppose I should tell you the details for today’s stage – coming right up.
“If anyone’s going to win other than us, it’s my brother,” Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) said last night after his sibling’s phoenix-from-the-flames ride.
“Happy for him. I’m sure I will congratulate him. Also celebrate a little bit. We did a good race, so we can’t be disappointed.”
“It’s still sinking in,” says Simon Yates at today’s start line in Rome. “After yesterday’s stage we didn’t have much time, we had to rush to the airport to fly here, and we arrived late in the hotel. Yeah, still sinking in.
“The job’s not actually finished yet,” Yates says, laughing, when it is suggested that tonight will be a big party. “I need to cross the finish line here in Rome. I am trying to soak up the atmosphere as much as possible.
“My phone did explode a little bit [last night]. But I wanted to speak to my family. They are the ones who’ve been with me, through all the ups and downs.
“To pinpoint one [message last night] would be impossible. I don’t know, a lot of people can resonate with the story, losing the race a long time ago now, in 2018 … and the way I’ve managed to take it, I really think it’s touched a lot of people. It’s great.
“It [yesterday’s decisive attack] was all circumstantial. I just needed the right moment. I don’t know, to be honest, I always had the hope I could do something, but I never really believed it could happen.
“Life comes around, it gives and it takes. Yeah, that’s how it is.”
Such sad news. Robert Gesink’s wife, Daisy, died yesterday. The riders are now having a minute’s silence on the start line in her memory.
Simon Yates before Stage 21.
I bet you he enjoyed his colazione.
“This is incredible,” Wout van Aert told reporters after Stage 20. “We didn’t really think about this, this morning. Such a brave effort of Simon, to go all-in from so far. I love it when people are not racing for a “blaze of honour”. So yeah. Chapeau for him.”
“I never truly believed until the very last moment there,” Yates told the reporter and former pro rider, Adam Blythe. “I’m speechless, really.
“It’s still sinking in … I couldn’t hold back the tears. It’s something I’ve worked towards … yeah. I’ve had a lot of setbacks, but I finally managed to pull it off.”
Yates eyes fill with tears of happiness.
“You should be proud of yourself mate,” Blythe tells him. “Everyone at home is proud of you.”
“Thanks mate,” Yates said. “Appreciate it.”
He meant that, too.
“We love this sport,” Matt Stephens said on pundit duty for TNT. “We’ve had a go at this sport. We know what it takes … that performace was fuelled by the memories of a capitulation that he’s constantly reminded of.
“The race fell perfectly for him, but he had to ride the race of his life today. That ride will define his career. To see those tears was immensely powerful. His family will be so proud. His brother as well. What a day.”
If you’d written that script they’d have said: “Yep, that’s good, we’ll use that.”
Rob Hatch on commentary, describing the incredible scenes as Yates rolls in for the final kilometre on yesterday’s Stage 20: “Five-and-a-half hours of the most epic bike riding you are ever likely to see … the tension built for three weeks before an explosion on the Colle delle Finestre … They called it “doing a Froome” … But now, this is the day we will all remember. Now they will call it “doing a Yates”.
“Not even the best Hollywood scriptwriters would have put this together. It is sensational. One of the most glorious chapters in the history of professional cycling.”
Sean Kelly, commentating for TNT Sports with his customary common sense, describes what happened among the other GC contenders when Yates attacked on Stage 20:
“Isaac del Toro decided: ‘No, I’m not riding.’ Carapaz of course said: ‘Well, if you’re not riding mate, I’m not riding.’ And it’s just played into the hands of Simon Yates … there will be a lot of questions asked.”
Live pictures from Rome will start at 2pm BST. Did you watch yesterday’s punch-up in the Cottian Alps? “>Email me with your thoughts.
I’m now catching up on yesterday’s highlights: Wout van Aert has just sat up, and Yates is five minutes ahead on the road. Exciting!
In other #sports news, Will Unwin has the vroom-vroom Formula One from Barcelona here:
While James Wallace is blogging like a man possessed for England v West Indies in the second one-day international:
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“Once the parcours was released I always had it in the back of my mind that maybe I could come here and close the chapter,” Yates told TNT Sports yesterday, referring to his painful experience on the Colle delle Finestre, at the hands of Chris Froome, in 2018. “Maybe not to take the pink jersey and the race but at least win the stage win or something.
“To try and show myself, the way I know I can do, and to pull it off – I really didn’t believe it. I have to thank the guys, the team. They believed in me and even during the stage they were saying ‘just give it a try’ and I did it in the end.
“I’m not really an emotional person but even coming over the finish line I couldn’t hold back the tears. It’s something I’ve worked towards throughout my career, year after year, and I’ve had a lot of setbacks. I’ve finally managed to pull it off.”
Preamble
It doesn’t matter where Saturday’s Stage 20 ranks in the pantheon of historic grand tour drama. Comparison being the thief of joy and all that. All we need worry about is that Simon Yates, of Team Visma–Lease A Bike, is about to win the Giro d’Italia after his astonishing climbing performance yesterday. All Yates needs to worry about, meanwhile, is crossing the finish line in one piece, in his shiny new maglia rosa, with his Visma-Lease A Bike teammates in tow.
Yates has been on the road in this gruelling race for 79 hours, 18 minutes and 42 seconds. Personally I have watched a grand total of zero seconds of that time, so I’m coming to this distinctly freddo. “>Feel free to email me with a concise summary of what’s happened up to this point, so I can subsquently pretend to know what I’m talking about.
As for yesterday’s excitement, you can read Tom Bassam’s excellent report here:
Stage 21 start time: 2pm BST
